Our P1 and P2 children have enjoyed tidying their flower bed. They have now planted different bulbs and are looking forward to see what flowers appear in the springtime.
P1 and P2 have also been taking part in the Beyond Bricks Programme. Details of the Programme are in the Beyond Bricks P3-P5 blog. Here are some pictures of P1 and P2 children during their sessions.
We are delighted that we have received funding which has enabled P1 - P5 children to take part in the Beyond Bricks Lego Based Programme. What is Beyond Bricks?
Beyond Bricks is a legacy programme which sees schools fully equipped to deliver a series of interactive workshops aimed to increase the emotional health and wellbeing of Children.
MindWise will work with schools to support the pupils recover and discover new skills to enable them to overcome challenges in their lives, by focusing on the five key aspects of emotional wellbeing as identified by the Education Authority ‘Emotional Health and Wellbeing Framework.’
Coping
Self-awareness
Motivation
Social resilience
Self-control
Pupils will take part in a 5 week interactive programme in their school with their own teachers co-facilitating the programme with trained Beyond Bricks Associates. Each pupil will leave with a personalised toolkit to help them cope with all five areas of the Emotional Health and Wellbeing Framework to navigate their future with confidence.
During the sessions, there is always a Lego building section. In groups of three, the children work as a group to complete Lego models - one person looks at the instructions and communicates what pieces are needed, the second lifts out the required lego pieces and the third constructs the lego model. It has been great to watch their confidence grow, week on week as they complete these tasks.
Rachel from Beyond Bricks, and the class teachers and classroom assistants have been helping the children complete their Beyond Bricks workbooks. P3 - P5 have been making Coping Jars.
On Friday 17th November as part of ‘Anti-Bullying Week’ we celebrated by having an ‘Odd Sock Day’. Here are P3/4 showing off their odd socks, which we used as important lesson to help us understand that everyone is unique, and we should respect differences.
Other important themes covered included:
- Definition of bullying & types of bullying
- ‘Make a Noise’ about bullying
Tell someone if you or someone you know is being bullied.
- What makes a good friend?
Many congratulations to our football team who recently won all four of their matches, in the local small schools’ tournament.
One of the suggestions that our new School Councillors had proposed, was to start an after school Cookery Club. We are delighted that Mrs Sharleen Calderwood and Mrs Ruth Armstrong have agreed to run this club. Their first session was on 7th November when sixteen P1 - P3 children and twenty three P4 - P7 children enjoyed making ‘Snowballs’. This week they made delicious ‘Fifteens’. Everyone is really loving the new Cookery Club.
Thanks to a grant, from the Northern Locality Mental Health & Emotional Wellbeing and Suicide Prevention team, P6/7 have been able to participate in the ‘Shaken’ programme. This programme is facilitated by ‘The Big House’ and is designed to help children think about things they can do to help them when their life is ‘shaken’.
Congratulations to these children who received certificates for hard work during September and October. Certificates were awarded for passing Accelerated Reading targets, Being Kind and Caring, Great Reading, Great Organisation and Reading Eggs.
Harvest Fun! All the children had a wonderful time at our ‘Harvest Hoolie’. They enjoyed making Chocolate Apples with Mrs Howe, a Harvest Craft with Mrs Henry, a Harvest Quiz with Mrs Peden and Harvest Games with Mrs Calderwood. Many thanks to all the staff who worked hard to make this fun, end of term celebration possible.
Our ‘Poppy Shop’ will be available in school each day from Monday 6th November - Friday 10th November, at lunchtime. Click here for prices and details of what is available. New recyclable plastic poppies are also available (suggested donation 50p).
Many thanks to our P7 ‘shopkeepers’, who helped with great sales, totalling £136.51. Thanks to all the parents and children who donated money to the Poppy Appeal who have expressed their thanks too.
We are delighted to be able to give pupils the opportunity to develop their football skills, alongside hearing an important message about how to keep both their bodies and minds healthy, based on stories from the bible. Pupils have also the opportunity to stay after school for football sessions too.
We were delighted to receive our Sustrans Silver Award from Johnny McCrystal. The award celebrates the work the whole school community does to make active travel choices.
This week children had a special focus on this with a ‘Ditch the Dark’ non uniform day on Monday to kick start the ‘Active Travel Week’. Many thanks to all parents who made the special effort required to add an active travel choice each day.
To give pupils the opportunity to have the responsibility of helping others and sharing their expertise in ICT with others, we appoint Digital Leaders. Many thanks to these pupils who have volunteered their time for this role.
Congratulations to Joy P6, who was the winner of the Accelerated Reading Cup for this half term. Joy achieved more than 600% over her Accelerated Reading Target for this peiod. Well done Joy.
Our Harvest Service was held on 18th October. It was great to see so many parents and friends joining us for this special occasion. Thanks to the P1 and P2 children who drew some lovely harvest pictures for our programme. We enjoyed songs from P1 -P3 and then P4-P7. Our guest speaker was Mr Colin Tinsley who told us the story of Ruth from the Bible. The chosen charity which we are supporting this year is Madlug. Madlug stands for 'make a difference luggage' Their work focuses on giving a pack-away travel bag to a child or young person in care.
Thanks to Mrs Caroline Boal for agreeing to serve tea and coffee after our Harvest Assembly
Each year we encourage children to think about others and use their lunchtimes to help younger pupils. Beth, Ruby, Evie, Joy, Lily and Hollie were all selected after they submit applications of a very high standard. Many, many thanks to these children for all their help with others.
On Monday 2nd October, as well as walking and riding to school, pupils came to school wearing bright colours to remind us of ‘Be bright Be seen’
Jonny McCrystal from Sustrans was with us for a special assembly and for some lessons.
Jonny presented our school with a Sustrans silver award for our continuing efforts to promote healthy lifestyles through activities.
Four of our pupils in P6 and P7 Beth, Evie, Joy and Lily had prepared a brilliant Powerpoint on Take5 which they presented to the whole school in assembly.
Take 5 is a special health inititive which seeks to encourage children to take 5 steps to help with their wellbeing.
These steps are
Connect
Take Notice
Keep Learning
Be Active
Give
Jonny then had an outdoor lesson with P3 and P4 which gave the children ideas on how to take these five steps.
Other classes had road safety lessons and P5 used chalks to design bright T-shirts on the playground.
In Rasharkin Primary School we believe it is important to take care of our bodies and minds. After being awarded our ‘Take 5’ status we choose some children each year who will help share this message with the whole school community. This year, Beth, Lily, Joy and Evie worked on creating a PowerPoint Presentation for assembly to tell others about how they can ‘Take 5’. Johnny McCrystal (Sustrans) was in present in assembly to present the ambassadors with their titles.
We are delighted to be continuing with the Sustrans Active Travel Project Week initiative. This is a week-long event across the UK to encourage families to cycle, scoot or walk to school. It's a great way to celebrate the huge benefits an active school run brings. This year it takes place from 2nd October to 6th October. We are delighted to see many families parking at Rasharkin Presbyterian Church car park (kindly granted to us) and then walking, riding or scooting to school.
Congratulations to Mia P7 whose prayer was chosen to be the lunchtime prayer for this year. We had some great prayers from all our children. Mark, Izabelle, Minnie, Harvey Beth and Jace also received a special prize for their prayers
